EYES ON: Frigates, Tech 1 Minmatar

MINMATAR

A wild, untamable and rebellious people, the Minmatar Republic was born in combat, as were its ships. Speed and versatility are some of the hallmarks of both the people and the vessels they design. Favoring projectile weapons, missiles and active shield tanks, the Matari ships are known for being fast and hard hitting, though usually a bit less durable than other races. That’s only a problem if they get caught though, which is often a challenge.

Breacher: Scram-kiting

This little scaffold on rockets is a classic example of Minmatar “engineering.” Take a rocket engine, stick solar panels, rocket launchers, and a shield booster on it, and send it to fight Amarrian golden bricks. Surprisingly, it works quite well. With the shield booster amount bonus, it is quite at home with Medium Ancillary Shield Boosters and orbiting right at the edge of scrambler range. Most ships can't really apply to it there, and it can put warheads on foreheads perfectly well. The most common fit is an Afterburner/Scram/Web/MASB fit, although sometimes you see a dual tank with a MASB backed up with an Ancillary Armor Repairer to keep the ship alive long enough for the MASB to reload. As a note, use the smallest size Cap Booster Charge you can in the ASB, since it gives you more cycles, and any size charge will give you the same shield HP back. To beat this bucket of bolts, either bring a kiter, lots of webs, or good damage projection.

Burst: Logi

Often called a rusty pancake, the Burst is a nice addition to any fleet. While lacking the thick shields of the Caldari Bantam, it still does its job as shield logistics quite well. A bit faster, with tighter fitting, and a small chance of tetanus while boarding, it is more at home in kiting gangs than close in brawling like its counterpart. The slot layout is more difficult, since you’re dependent on rigs for shield improvements, as the mid slots are used up quickly with a prop mod, shield extender, and cap booster. Still, it will restore shields, and until you can get in the T2 Logi frig called the Scalpel, it’s quite passable. You are no less of a target however, and don’t have much durability to keep you alive, other than a small signature, and lots of thrust. One niche use for this ship (ironically) utilizes the ECM Burst to break locks against larger ships with slow lock times. Since ECM Bursts (module) use so much capacitor, the Burst (ship) is able to both deploy one, and escape afterwards, instead of being instantly cap dry, due to its large capacitor. My brain just burst from that, moving on.

Probe: Exploration

Created from a collision between a mobile depot full of scanning upgrades, and a Slasher frigate, the Probe quite literally does what the name implies: it probes. It is the Minmatar exploration frigate, and decent at the job. Sadly, other than hauling, due to the cargohold, it really isn’t all that good at many other things. The 4 mid slots leave only 3 lows for tank, and that doesn’t let you do as much as you can with the Caldari Heron or Gallente Imicus. Fit it with a prop mod, relic and data analyzers, and whatever else you like, it has CPU for days. I tend to stay away from shield extenders, since they increase sig radius and make you faster to lock. Plus if you're tackled, you're probably dead anyhow. Still a good boat for budding explorers, and its T2 variant, the Cheetah, is arguably the fastest Covert Ops frigate, so a worthwhile ship to skill up for in order to get the T2 version. A small point of personal complaint is that the old model for it was a charming little sailboat, which some Icelandic thugs beat mercilessly until it resembled its current sad and flat little bulk. While most ship model changes have been nice (looking at you, Moa), us old timers still remember it in its original trim form over a tear touched glass of Galefur Ale.

Rifter: Brawling/Scram-kiting

Arguably the most iconic ship in the game, the Rifter has fallen from its place as the king of T1 frigates. Widely regarded as [insert insult here], it is not at all as bad as people think. For one thing, the speed on this ship is astonishing, easily keeping up with most tackle type frigates. And it can do it while being able to deliver far more damage than they can. In a way, it is the stepping stone to the Stabber cruiser, and later the Cynabal and Vagabond. Common fits are mostly Autocannons with either a plate+Ancillary Armor Repairer tank, or a shield extender. With the falloff bonus, you have solid dps out to the edge of scram range, and if you can get under someone’s guns you do a lot more damage than people expect. It can also be a passable kiter with 280mm Artillery, but you give up all pretense of tank and tracking to do it, due to the fitting requirements of Artillery. Fly it aggressively with a scram and web, and you’d be surprised at what this little sports car can do. 

Slasher: Tackle/Scram-kiting

The Slasher trades a good deal of survivability for speed, but this little solar powered butterfly is quite strong for its fragile looks. Fair damage, definitely not as good as the Rifter, and a generous 4 mid slots, allow it to be a natural shield tanker, loaded up with a Medium Shield Extender, scram, web, and prop mod. Once you get to know what guns can track you close in, you’ll find that an Afterburner fit can easily outrun the guns of other ships, even frigates. Even when your target has dual webs, you will still be moving at a decent speed with some overheating on the AB. Commonly seen as dualprop with AB and Microwarpdrive, or the tankier MSE version, they’re a great ship to learn range control with, and one of the better T1 fleet tacklers. It’s second only to the Condor in its ability to annoy targets to death, and that's quite the compliment. 

Vigil: EWAR

I do confess to liking this boat. Its role is often underestimated, but Target Painters are an incredibly good way to get missiles to apply to a target. And the hull bonus on the Vigil brings the Signature Radius bonus up to a massive 50% per painter with decent skills. In perspective, a middle of the pack cruiser has a sig radius of 150m, 2 painters brings that up to about 330m, which is the same size as the explosion radius of a Cruise missile. That's a battleship weapon, which will now apply its damage to a cruiser, with no reduction from signature. It’s a type of EWAR often underused, but in its niche it is very strong. Beyond that, you don't have a load of room for damage modules, so fit it with speed and whatever durability you can find in mind, and keep your distance from the fleet and targets. If you find yourself in the middle of a rave because of a vigil, put some drones on it, or any damage that can reach 50+km. It won't hang around long, I assure you. Fast, underestimated, and responsible for unusually swift deaths: the Minmatar way.